Brian Nicholas at work in Great Kills. Click here (scroll through) to see her as both Banda Sea and Brian Nicholas.

And finally . . . it’s the mystery tug Elbe when it was Maryland Pilot boat Maryland. At its stern is its predecessor, Baltimore. I haven’t found out much about Baltimore. Any help? About Maryland, Capt. Brian Hope–who shared this photo, said this, “In 1985 and MARYLAND was donated to Greenpeace. She was a great boat, but too expensive to operate. She had a crew of 18, plus a chief steward. The crew worked two weeks on and two weeks off, so that, counting the steward, we had a total of 37 crew. When we went ashore that was reduced to about 21 and our fuel, repair and food costs dropped dramatically as well. I am very glad to see that she has been preserved (in Maassluis). She’s a great boat!” Thanks to a generous reader, here’s an article about her sea trials.

Click here for a number of posts I did in Panama a few years ago. By the way, MSC Kim today is somewhere in the Pacific; she was last in the sixth boro in November 2013 . . . although as with most traffic in this harbor, I missed her.

I should rename this post “Time Warp.” I started it in May 2008 and this morning–in response to some Facebook exchanges–resurrected it. Maybe I will begin a series called “Time Warp,” though, and any photos no more than 20 years old–to pick an arbitrary boundary and to keep the series from becoming ancient time warp which could be its own thing– . . . any photos you wish to contribute no more than two decades old would be welcome. Maybe I gave up on this post six years back because I had too many unanswered questions.

Anyhow, to plunge back in . . . Robert Silva and Harold Tartell provided foto ofManhasset from way back, when it sported a flying horse on its stack . . . . I assumed this vessel was long ago scrapped. I’m also assuming the location of this shot can be pegged by the two LNG tanks in the background.

The tow–Lauren Foss and the crane–is captured in Gatun Lake by MS Europa‘s webcam.

A few hours later, she arrives at the Gatun Locks, which will lower her to Atlantic/Caribbean levels. Vessel nearer is ARC Endurance. Click here to see ARC Endurance in the sixth boro a bit over a year ago.

Vessel in the distance is MSC Carmen.

For truly remarkable photos of the tow traversing the Canal, click here to see gCaptain’s fine work.

With friendly seas, the tow should be arriving at the Narrows at end January/beginning February.

I don’t know how many folks were glued to this webcam yesterday, but I was not the only one. Let me walk us around the foto, different in subtle ways than the other five in this post. First, note the time stamp upper left: it’s 11:16 a.m. This was happening yesterday midmorning at the Miraflores Lock, the first of three set of lifts out of the Pacific on a transit toward the Atlantic/Caribbean. In the distance on the right side, the large white object is Norwegian Star, negotiating the next set of locks . . . Pedro Miguel Locks.

The ship almost fully shown in this foto is Tai Success, bound for Altamira, Mexico. Tai Success is 656′ loa (length overall) by 104′ , the maximum width for the current set of locks. Extending from lower left is the ex-Left Coast Lifter, towed by Lauren Foss. Note the relative size of Tai Success and the crane barge. Lauren Foss at 141′ loa is larger than almost all tugs currently on the Hudson.

11:20 a. m. The entire crane is in the lock chamber. On the stern of the crane barge is Cerro Majagual, a 2013 Panama Canal tug built in Spain. For the transit from the San Francisco Bay area to Panama, this role was played by another Foss tug, Iver Foss. Iver is currently waiting for the tow on the Atlantic side.

11:24. The water in the lock has started to rise.

11:30

11:40. The doors on the high side of the Miraflores Locks have opened and the tow heads for Pedro Miguel. By the way, on the horizon beyond the Pedro Miguel you can see the Centennial Bridge, about 10 years old. As of this writing this morning, the tow was docked just north of this bridge. I suspect it will complete the transit and be on the Atlantic side by the end of today.

Meanwhile, I’d like to propose some alternatives . . . Hudson River Hoister and Tappan Zee Titan are more local and maintain the same LCL pattern.

As to size, currently the largest crane in the Hudson Valley is DonJon’s Chesapeake 1000, the number being its tonnage lifting capacity. Last summer in Rio, I saw a crane called Pelicano 1with a lifting capacity said to exceed 2000 tons. The ex-LCL is said to hav a capacity around 1900 tons.

Click here for one of the posts I did from the Panama Canal–a place well worth a visit and a second visit– about two years ago.

Keep in mind that once the tow clears the Atlantic side locks, it’s still more than 2000 nautical miles from the Narrows. Assuming an average speed of seven knots and no delays for weather or other causes, that’s still almost two weeks. So, I’ll wager ETA at the Narrows around February 1.

And finally . .. escuse the poor quality, but these are cam-captures of Miss Lis at the Gatun Locks last Thursday, six days ago. Although it’s not legible here, the container at the bow of the barge reads “FLUOR.” Let’s keep a watch for this tow at the Narrows in the next few days . . . from the Left Coast and headed here for the Tappan Zee project, I presume.

From Towingline.com, a foto I’ve long sought: NYC prison barge Resolution leaving the sixth boro (East River portion) on Giant 4 in 1997, assisted by ITC Towage tug Suhaili. She traveled to the UK, where she became HM Prison Weare. It seems that less than a decade later, her use as a prison was discontinued, although I’m not sure the vessel has been scrapped. Credit for the foto goes to Hans van der Ster and to Smit. Currently the sixth boro is home to prison vessel Vernon C. Bain.

The next fotos–updates on T-ATF 172 Apachecome compliments of Mark Helmkamp, Ocean Tug & Salvage Ship Class Manager for the Military Sealift Command. The foto below shows the handoff of the decommissioned sub USS Philadelphia from Apache to Sioux at the former Rodman Naval Station.

Note the sub on the wire on the Pacific side of the ride.

The next two fotos show Apache towing the sub through the Miraflores Locks. It’s rainy season at the Canal. Many thanks to Dianne Woods-Olvera Cavness for these fotos.

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And finally, from Cape Town and thanks to Colin Syndercombe, a followup on Mighty Servant. . . here carrying an unidentified oil rig.

And if I’ve whetted your appetite for workboats hither and yon, check out what Jed located in the BVI here.

This compilation from Will Van Dorp, who’s back in the sixth boro after a family gallivant. For fotos, see the top 100 fotos on the Flickr show along the left margin.

Of course, here’s another approach to lifting smaller boats onto a transport deck. All fotos here are compliments of Rod Smith, about 10 days ago. Rod operates Narragansett Bay Shipping, where I know him best for his tireless documentation of vessel construction at Senesco Marine. (Doubleclick enlarges.)

All of which answers a question: given my recent obsession with the Panama Canal, I was wondering if Ocean Freedom carrying possibly the latest government boats might cross paths there with a US government boats on its last voyage. The vessel is USS Glacier, and it is in tow by Rhea and the company that recently towed the Artship (also with South Pacific connections) to the scrappers. . . but according to marinetraffic, as Ocean Freedom heads into the Pacific, Rhea and Glacier are following Baja California.

Many thanks to Rod Smith for the fotos and to David Hindin for the info on Rhea and USS Glacier.

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